HP Pavilion vs Lenovo G505

[ronanirish]

Hi guys, on the shop for a new laptop for mild gaming, websurfing, videos. Tight budget around 600 and I have two contenders here to pick from. I am in Canada so my options it seems are limited.

http/www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/hewlett-packard-hp-pavilion-15-6-laptop-black-amd-a10-5745m-750gb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-8-15-n084ca/10271048.aspx?path=6481c7002817041ea21ebd3307d7e589en02

http/www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/lenovo-lenovo-g505-15-6-laptop-black-amd-a8-5550m-1tb-hdd-8gb-ram-windows-8-g505s/10273083.aspx?path=9d3d91c41a197916b88b7be2944e9763en02

I know they are only 550 but I have to add about 70 dollars worth of taxes to that.... What I am mainly worried about is the build quality of these, and proper ventilation. Im probable hesitating because I feel the Lenovo will be sturdier. If any of you could help me pick which computer would serve me better, it would be much appreciated. That being said, Im opened to suggestions as well. THanks a million.

 

[jaguarskx]

Both laptops are essentially the same. The primary difference is the APU (AMD's term for CPU with integrated graphics core). The HP Pavilion's APU uses less power rated at 25w TDP instead of the APU in the Lenovo G505 which is rated at 35w. Assuming same battery capacity, that means the HP Pavilion can potentially have longer battery life. How much is unknown I would guess possibly 30 - 45 minutes longer. Performance wise, they should both have the same performance.

Here's a link to a review of the Lenovo G505. Note it uses a slower dual core A4 APU so the main complaints are performance. The quad core A8-5550m is faster and the Radeon HD 8550m is more powerful than the processor in the review model. Additionally, the review model only had 1 stick of 4GB RAM which more or less halved the memory bandwidth leading to less than ideal RAM performance. The laptop you have selected has 2 sticks of 4GB RAM so RAM performance should not be an issue. Lastly, there is the complaint about the glossy screen... well there's nothing you can do about that. Most consumer laptops have glossy screens (like the HP Pavilion) so... deal with it.

http/www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/laptops-portable-pcs/laptops-and-netbooks/lenovo-g505-1184165/review#articleContent

There are no reviews of the HP Pavilion model.

As for build quality, it is difficult to say. Lenovo never had a single lawsuit against them filed by consumers that I know of. The same cannot be said of HP, however, those HP lawsuits generally related to gaming laptop from what I remember and at least for some of the lawsuits it was related to the nVidia graphics core being the source of the problem.

 

[ronanirish]

Thank you for your help.

I went to see both of them in shops, only to discover the Best Buy site is confusing. THey announce it as G505 but its actually a G505s they have. THeir G505 do have, like review sites show, less powerful hardware.

That was a blow and a surprise, you would not believe how cheap the G505s is/felt in my hands. Flexing and bending and plasticky. The G505 felt a little better, but I wasnt interested. Just terrible. I was fairly sure to get it over the HP but I ended up getting the latter one for that reason.

Fingers crossed it serves me well. THanks again.